The mammoth waves were spotted early Wednesday in the storm’s northeast quadrant, said the NHC’s Tropical Analysis and Forecast Branch, which has been documenting Florence’s waves all week. That’s out in open ocean, where waves are much larger than those reaching the coast as storm surge. (Waves are smaller as the water gets more shallow.)

That’s nearly double the wave heights documented on Tuesday, when the NHC said satellites had observed “an expansive area of wave heights 12 feet or greater” circulating around Hurricane Florence and peak waves of 45 feet near its center.

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